Exclusive: Shocking Developments That Led to Referees Darren England and Dan Cook Being Benched Amidst Unending VAR Controversy
Referees Darren England and Dan Cook face consequences following their failure to rectify the incorrect offside ruling that disallowed Luis Diaz's goal against Tottenham The PGMOL has decided to stand them down for the upcoming Premier League fixtures amidst escalating criticism of the referees' performance
Referees Darren England and Dan Cook have been suspended for the upcoming round of Premier League matches due to the ongoing aftermath of the VAR controversy that occurred last weekend. The criticism towards the referees' organization, PGMOL, has further escalated as a result of numerous contentious decisions, one of which involved Liverpool being unfairly denied a goal in their loss against Tottenham.
Officials from VAR, England and Cook, had initially been suspended for two matches following their erroneous disallowing of Luis Diaz's goal, which would have granted Liverpool a 1-0 advantage on Saturday. However, this suspension has now been extended to include an additional set of fixtures.
On a separate note, for the upcoming match between Everton and Bournemouth, Simon Hooper, the on-field referee at Tottenham, will serve as the VAR official.
England was scheduled to referee Preston's away game with Leicester in the Championship on Wednesday night. However, Thomas Bramall has now taken over as the referee. PGMOL has acknowledged the occurrence of a "significant human error" in disallowing Luiz's goal and has committed to conducting a thorough review.
Liverpool has criticized the VAR error, stating that it has compromised sporting integrity, and has requested the release of the referee's audio, although this has not occurred. Additionally, the club has declared its intention to exhaust all possible avenues to achieve a satisfactory resolution.
Carra: 'We're at a crisis point with VAR'
PGMOL issued another apology to Liverpool, marking the second time they were compelled to do so this season. This incident occurred when Wolves were denied a late penalty against Manchester United, as Andre Onana collided with Sasa Kalajdzic.Carragher expressed his apologies for a string of prominent mistakes from the previous season and stated that the sentiment towards VAR has hit rock bottom, reaching a crisis point. He emphasized that this decision is not an isolated incident, but rather builds off other occurrences this season, such as the Wolves situation involving Manchester United on Monday Night Football.
I prefer not to criticize the officials or Howard Webb; they must be feeling terrible. I don't believe in conspiracy theories; there is no benefit to anyone from this situation.
We all make errors, but this is an extremely grave and unparalleled mistake.
